Shijingshan plans to monitor PM2.5

The capital will invest 4.42 million yuan (US$702,000) setting up PM2.5 particulate pollutant monitoring devices at street administrative offices in Shijingshan district, announced the city's environmental protection bureau.

Shijingshan will install air quality monitoring facilities in nine neighborhoods, the first district to start monitoring PM10 and PM2.5 in community regions of the city, said the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) through its official microblog on Saturday.

The bureau announced on February 1 that more than 30 PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter) monitoring stations will be set up in both urban and suburban areas of the district.

The announcement came five days before the city government promised "monitoring PM2.5 and improving the air quality" as the No.1 mission on their list of "practical things to be accomplished in 2012," according to local media reports.

Although Yu Jianhua, an EPB official, promised the locations of the stations would not be isolated, rather they would be 50 meters away from sources of pollution, many residents are concerned whether the stations will accurately reflect the city's air quality. The US embassy's rooftop air quality monitoring station is only 15 meters from the road, and the figures reported are usually higher than the EPB's data, which measures PM10 (particulates up to 10 microns).

"Hopefully the stations will not be a waste of money," said Wang Xiaochen, a Shijingshan resident, "and more important is what any specific measures will be introduced to improve the air after the index is reported."

The district government's website states that Shijingshan had 253 blue-sky days last year, 24 more than last year due to "Shougang's [steel factory] relocation and other measures," but still 21 days less than other districts because of "vehicle emissions, dust from construction sites, and industrial emissions from coal-fired plants."

Currently, there are still two major heating plants in the district with 8 coal-fired boilers, consuming 100,000 tons of coal each year, the website says.

Commenting on the Shijingshan plan, Li Yan, who heads up climate and energy issues for Greenpeace in Beijing, said that this will be the first time that residents will be informed of comprehensive pollution data, and the plan should be extended to other parts of the capital.

"Heavy industry zones would have higher pollution, and monitoring PM2.5 at multiple communities will mean more precise data will be published. It should be promoted to other districts as well," Li noted.